Updated 7:05 am, Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Geoffrey Nelson (left) visits Michael Lee Clark to check on the loft and lie of his club at Clark's garage shop in Berkeley.

Geoffrey Nelson (left) visits Michael Lee Clark to check on the loft and lie of his club at Clark's garage shop in Berkeley.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

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Clark has marked the heights of children who have come for custom clubs over the years, above right.

Clark has marked the heights of children who have come for custom clubs over the years, above right.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

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Clark shows how he measures the club head speed that his son Kostia, 12, creates using a swing meter at his garage in Berkeley.

Clark shows how he measures the club head speed that his son Kostia, 12, creates using a swing meter at his garage in Berkeley.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

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Custom crafter Michael Lee Clark shows how he aligns a golf club's steel shaft in his garage shop in Berkeley.

Custom crafter Michael Lee Clark shows how he aligns a golf club's steel shaft in his garage shop in Berkeley.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Custom club maker Michael Lee Clark has good grip on golf

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Michael Lee Clark has zero commute, zero overhead and zero competition as the last independent custom golf club maker between the Carquinez Bridge south to San Leandro. For 17 years, he's been crafting drivers and putters in his Berkeley garage, drawing customers looking for that extra edge on the green.

His career change, from law clerk, was inspired by his father.

"I visited my dad in West Virginia, and he was tinkering on golf clubs in his garage, re-shafting them and fixing them for friends," Clark said. "A lightbulb went off for me. I thought, 'Here is a game I can play, a business I could have of my own.' I had always wanted to be a craftsperson."

Clark had only played two rounds of golf in his life, but something about it just spoke to him. It was the late '90s, Tigermania was in full swing, and that was all the demographic research he needed. Clark cleaned out the garage while his slightly perplexed wife looked on, and hung an open for business sign:

"Fore! Seasons Golf."

Now, he has almost 2,000 customers.

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"You name the profession; I've had them, from boutique investors, to the waterworks guy to the musician or the serious athlete," he said. "When Peter Tomasulo was at Cal, I fitted him with golf clubs. Lama Kunga Rinpoche, a Tibetan monk in Kensington, got started playing golf after visiting my shop."

Clark sees his job a lot like that of a tailor. In the same way that a suit off the rack in a large box store isn't going to provide the best fit, any old clubs are not likely to produce the best golf score. Clark starts by taking a lot of measurements, to make sure customers are properly fitted for specific clubs. He orders the club components from the manufacturers and assembles them to the customer's measurements in his garage.

His garage is filled with hydraulic shaft pullers and putter bending machines, and contraptions that can adjust the loft and lie angles or measure the flex or the swing weight of a club. He also makes repairs or re-grips customers' clubs.

Before he works with customers, Clark likes to spend time talking, to get a feel for their relationship to the game, so he knows what type of club is best for them. Do they play just for enjoyment, or are they trying to become more competitive? Do they play golf to escape or casually, or for the challenge?

"I ask people to give me one word to describe their relationship to golf," he said. "I've gotten everything from 'obsession,' to 'family' to 'challenge' to the 'f-word.' "

A full set of clubs, depending on what the customer wants, can range from $1,200 to $1,700, and that set is expected to last seven or eight years.

Clark, who wasn't a big golfer to begin with, has since been invited to many greens, and has now played on 60 different courses in Northern California. But he's since eased up on his golf time, and no longer watches it on TV or reads all the magazines.

"It's like working in an ice cream parlor and getting tired of eating ice cream," he said. "These days I'm just enjoying club making."

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